1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communications system including a plurality of mobile terminals and in particular to user interface control method and system for a mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile terminal such as a mobile or portable telephone or a mobile information terminal has a user interface that is the indispensable part of a program for making the mobile terminal easy to use. Since the user interface is frequently updated, it is important to easily change the user interface of each mobile terminal.
For example, Japanese patent application unexamined publication No. 8-147228 discloses an information communication system that is capable of updating and changing a user interface of a terminal via a network. The information communication system is composed of a center station and a plurality of terminals each having user interface sections therein. The center station is provided with a user interface program storage storing a plurality of user interface programs. When having received an information request signal from a terminal, the center station selects an appropriate one of the stored user interface programs and transmits the requested data and the appropriate user interface program to the terminal. The terminal runs the received user interface program to present the received data on the user interface section.
However, the terminal downloads the user interface program from the center station and executes it to provide data on the user interface. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a mobile telephone with an amount of memory to store the user interface program, resulting in difficulties in reducing the amount of memory incorporated in the mobile telephone.
Japanese patent application unexamined publication No. 9-36976 discloses a telephone communication system composed of a telephone set and a computer. The computer stores a telephone management program including a user interface program. When calling or called, the user interface is displayed on a monitor. In the case of a mobile telephone, however, such a monitor-equipped computer cannot accompany it.